I do not believe I have brick behind the siding.
It does look awkward in the front, but it does go all around the house, on the top half, with no brick.

The option with siding is either to do it horizontally in which case there is still some broken element but better, or you can keep it vertical but continue it to the lower level. you can paint the siding a darker shade of the windows.

Hi Roger....I would suggest BM Silver Fox for the siding, soffit, fascia, and garage (I would leave the vertical siding as is) The trim for the windows, gutters, porch railing and posts, and front door would be BM Cinder. So glad you chose a French style front door, that will make a big difference, You might want to look into a new garage door with multiple lite's. The foundation I would paint in Cinder. When this is done, the landscaping will be the next step.

Gentek colour Pebble is perfect color or you can also use white color.

Roger, I think you could pull off a kind of "industrial chic" thing. As much as I like the really cool design in the railing, I would change it out for a more straightline vertical. If it's legal to match the spacing on the vertical siding in the rail, I'd do that. Alternatively, glass insets as they do on many decks, or vertical cabling to make everything but the rails sort of disappear. There are garage doors that are metal framing with all the panels glass (frosted, in most instances.) Since you only have a single door, it might not be too expensive. An industrial influenced light fixture, stand alone house numbers and a new mailbox for accents. Love the door. Anything lighter than black would work.

Can't see shutters really doing anything for the facade, except creating yet another element with varying lines.

Landscape with some great ornamental grasses interspersed with low growing, brightly green evergreen shrubs. Don't know if what we call "bloodgrass" works there, but it could be a way to tie in your brick color with the landscape.

Since the brick is such a dark color, I would try to paint the front door trim, the garage and the railings a cream color which goes best with the red tone of your bricks. I like the front door you choose, it is beautiful. It can still be black, it will pop with the cream trim. When you replace the windows, are you planning on painting the window trim? I think it will go nice cream as well.

I like nwduck's suggestion of the metal garage door, it has become most popular here as well.

I also agree with nwduck about the shutters and the varying lines, maybe it would be best to leave it out for now until the windows, railings, siding and front door are taken care of. If you still feel you need the shutters at that time, it would be a great opportunity to add a pop of color.


About the siding, not sure yet if you should paint it creme, a nice wood grain gloss, or a neutral shade of gray just for contrast. Here are some pics of a brick home with creme trim and black door. If you decide to stay with the siding, I would like to see it horizontal, I am still undecided about the color though.

Here is one that includes the garage.

I would like to see the mailbox a nice silver color.

Thank you all for your advice!
What wonderful feedback.

@Matilda Bos Design Studio, I am considering a new garage door, but depending on cost, I may only paint it to match the door colour...this year and change it later.

@nwduck, I will definitely look into changing the railing. I like your idea of matching the spacing of the siding. I also like the frosted glass panel garage door suggestion...but I have to differ that investment to a future date...this project is already way over my original budget...as all my projects...

@R Robulock, what a great idea to use a cream coloured trim that will permit to go with a black or dark coloured door for more contrast with the "linear frosting". I will talk with my window contractor and see if they can offer the whole window in cream, I would then ask the siding contractor to "cap" the window with a 4 inch wide trim also cream and not install shutters.

I the end, I think I will go/stay with Vertical Board & Batten (no woodgrain finish) siding for a more "industrial" look as suggested.

What do you all think of "Almond" for the siding and doors with "Harvest Wheat" for windows, trim, soffits and facia? or vice versa?


Landscaping is for next year. Love the bloodgrass idea. Will see if it can grow in Montreal weather. I also like dark yellow/orange flowers.

Roger, try looking at Black Eyed Susans to see if they work in Montreal, if you like dark yellow (Rudbeckia Hirta), in with bloodgrass. That might work. Both things are relatively easy care, and spread with little to no effort. (Or major investment.)

Is Harvest Wheat a tan color? I painted our bedroom Harvest Wheat, but the final result was a yellowish tan. Is that what you are looking for?

You are right R Robulock, it is rather yellowish. On second thought, I do not think I will go in the direction.
I'm trying to find a colour that will bring together the brown/reddish brick with a cream/almond trim.

That is what I thought. Harvest Wheat was the only paint color that I didn't like and had to deal with.

Creme/almond are your best choices.

Is it too late to change to Desert Clay in the Gentek line? If I see it right, the one you originally referred to is very taupe. If you could change, what if you went with a sort of blue steel for paint? There's one on the Benjamin Moore paint site called Mineral Alloy 1622, or Little Falls 1621 that would provide contrast, I think, but not be just another dark color. If you wanted to do metal accents in either bronze or silver, I think that might work. And it would be more in keeping than a tan with the industrial thing you may want to do.

@nmduck, it's not too late to change. I hadn't originally considered blues (or greys as Matilda Bos Design Studio had suggested earlier), but I'm not closing the door. I'll be spending some time this weekend at my hardware store to look at paint samples and I'll try to see how bold I'm willing to go.

After sometime spent looking at samples, I think I have settled on my colour choices:

Windows and window trim : Pebble (#559)
Facia and gutters : Pebble (#559)
Garage door trim : Pebble (#559)
Front door trim : Pebble (#559)

Siding and soffits : Wicker (#538)
Garage door : Wicker (#538)
Front door : Wicker (#538)
Wooden columns and railing : Wicker (#538)

Door hardware : Venetian bronze
Window internal grill : Venetian bonze (or dark brown as available)

I will work on my landscaping next spring and plant lots of dark yellow daisies (or similar).
I will also redo the railing and make it thinner or with glass to make it disappear as nwduck suggested
As for the garage door, I think I'll only paint it this year and replace it in 2 or 3 years with a multiple tiled one, as Matilda suggested.


The only one I am unsure of, is the front door.
Should I go bold with a lime green, orange or a deep red?

Looks good! If you are going with the red door, go with a bright candy apple red tone, it will go best with the cool colors you have chosen for the house.

I also like a bright "tangerine" and lime green is good too.

Good luck. Please post pics to keep us posted and see the end result.

The colors you've chosen are wonderful, and I love Matilda's choices as well. The railing is unique, and I hope you'll consider painting it in a contrasting color to see how it looks before you give up on it.
Another thought I had was to swap the wood in favor of metal or fiber cement panels to remove the vertical lines.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/seal-the-deal-with-fiber-cement-siding-stsetivw-vs~1719463


The styles are different from your home, obviously, but here's what it looks like.